


Old World Beach House

by Daniellecluck



Series: Vampires and Fae and Coffee Oh My [2]
Category: Faerie Folklore, Original Work, Vampires - Fandom
Genre: Accidental Marriage, Acoustic Guitar Cover Hate, Another love letter to Tropes and Fanfiction, Beach House, Day At The Beach, Epilogue, Established Relationship, Fae & Fairies, Family Drama, Fluff and Angst, Just gay supernatural stuff tbh, Legit I just decided I needed a beach episode, M/M, There is like almost no coffee in this one, There's like a couple swears but not enough to earn this a T rating, Vampire Hunters, Vampires, anxiety references, sorry ya'll
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:55:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23977069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daniellecluck/pseuds/Daniellecluck
Summary: Three years after they'd first started dating, Aleks, rather purposely, had still yet to meet most of Chase's fae family. Oh so luckily for him, they're hosting a family get together at their beach house soon and demanding he make an appearance. Welp, even vampires can't afford to be too rude to fae. With the gathering planned for the middle of the day, in broad daylight, with a forecast of sunny skies, certainly nothing can possibly go wrong by forcing the vampire to attend.Self-indulgent, semi tongue-in-cheek, beach episode epilogue to the previous fic I wrote. I tried to make this at least intelligible without having read the first part, but no guarantees on that.
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Series: Vampires and Fae and Coffee Oh My [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1728778
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	Old World Beach House

**Author's Note:**

  * For [forprussia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/forprussia/gifts).



> Just back at it again with some gay vampires and fae.

Specks of blood splattered onto Aleks’ arm, despite the umbrella he’d wielded to shield him from both the sun and stuff like this happening. He sighed and took one large step back, hoping that was far enough away from the action. He was thankful it’d mostly landed on his hand rather than his clothes, although that in of itself made him debate if he should lick it off. Sure, he’d heard the rumors that werewolf blood tasted disgusting to vamps, but that only made it harder to resist tasting it. He was over a century old and hadn’t even _tried_ it yet.

 _Focus,_ He had to remind himself, _You’re supposed to be acting in a professional capacity right now._

He licked it off his hand anyway and immediately dry heaved at the foul taste it left in his mouth. He didn’t get much time to reflect on its flavor though, as before he’d even finished gagging, the wolf’s severed head was tossed down at him, landing at his feet. _Gross._ He took a step back once more.

The wolf’s killer jumped down from the ledge he’d been fighting on to join him, and the severed head, on the ground below. Matted blonde locks, and covered head to toe in dirt, caked-on blood, and various wolf gore, somehow the hunter still managed to give off his usual alluring aura of springtime rain and flowers. Aleks wondered if it was normal for him to be turned on right now. Probably not.

“I saw that,” his partner Chase chastised him, pointing the grimy knife he’d just used to slay with toward the hand Aleks had licked mere seconds ago. “You’re disgusting, you know.”

Aleks shrugged him off and wiped the rest of his hand off on the messenger bag he was carrying slung over his shoulder, ignoring the disgusted protest that earned from the hunter.

“I wanted to know if it really tasted like dirt?” he explained as he pulled out a notebook and pen from the bag and began to jot down the time and place they had completed the commission, although it was harder than he’d care to admit seeing as he still had to balance the umbrella to shield himself from the sun. He managed to find a position using his neck that let him both take notes and keep the umbrella over him, then he reexamined the amount of gore covering Chase and decided to also tack on a laundry fee for this hunt.

“And?” Chase prompted as he sheathed the silver knife into the holster his belt.

“It tasted worse than dirt,” he admitted.

Chase snorted once at him as he plopped himself down on the ground right next to the wolf’s head and began plucking up dandelions sprouting nearby.

“That’s what you get for being gross,” he said once he’d found the perfect flower to tuck behind his ear and did so. “Are you finished with record taking yet?”

Aleks rolled his eyes as he paced around in the dirt clearing. Chase stretched out to lay down.

“You know, if you would let me use excel like a normal person living in the 21st century instead of tracking your hunting notes in a notebook like some caveman, I could do these, like, five times faster.”

“Well, for starters, you’re not ‘living’ in the 21st century,” he jested.

Aleks chucked the pen he’d been using straight at the hunter’s face. He caught it easily with one hand. _Of course._

“Besides,” he said and tossed the pen back at him. Aleks did not catch it, and it fumbled into the dirt. Great, now it was lost. “I’ve been taking notes and sending bills to people on sets of physical paper for decades. I refuse to let you taking over secretarial duties for the business change the way its run.”

Aleks bit back the urge to point out how it’d changed already anyway. It wasn’t like the hunter had _always_ brought a vampire for backup with him to gigs before. Sure, Aleks had only managed to convince him to let him tag along under the guise of “taking notations for proper invoicing purposes,” but the fact remained that he hadn’t missed one of Chase’s hunting gigs in over three years. He’d truly wanted to tag along out of the overwhelming urge to protect the hunter from accidentally maiming or offing himself, but that was a moot point. He knew bringing up the need for revised work safety standards would carry the conversation nowhere. Fae were known to be stubborn like that. Even half-fae like Chase.

“Fine,” he dropped it, “I’ll send the invoice once I’ve written it out later. Probably this weekend.”

“Oh well,” the hunter pushed on, “We’re behind schedule anyway. This was only supposed to take an hour. Based on the rumors of both dying livestock and children, I’d never have expected a wolf. That’s not usually their normal conduct.”

“Yeah well, that’s why _I_ search out the gigs for you,” Aleks said after he finally located the missing pen near a rock and reached down to pick it up. “Don’t worry, I’ll add the extra time it took to the invoice.”

Chase hummed, lying on the ground in a state of contentment for all of about three seconds before scrambling upright at an intrusive thought.

“Oh, shoot! Sam’s supposed to pick us up in like ten minutes,” he said, finally taking in the state of himself. “I don’t have time to change.”

“We could always not go?” Aleks went for the swing.

“Nice try,” and he missed, “I’ll just shower and change once we’re there. Either Sam or someone at the family estate will probably have something there that would fit me.”

Aleks did not point out how he’d probably end up wearing whatever was available regardless of if it fit him or not. At least, that’s what he did with all the vampire’s sweatshirts and hoodies.

Dejected, he put the notes away and went to sit down in the shade next to his boyfriend (and the severed head) to wait for the inevitable. It wasn’t that he didn’t _like_ Chase’s family. It was just that, well, they were fae. All of them, or at least all the living ones (according to Chase, he’d arrived about three decades too late to meet any of his relevant human relatives). Hanging out with fae was not a normal habit for vampires to get into, even those dating one. In fact, apart from Chase’s cousin Sam, Aleks had managed to go nearly three and a half years without meeting a single other of his relatives in person. The closest he’d come was a video call with his mother exactly once. She’d been completely, unreservedly uninterested in discussing anything outside of the flora of one specific region in Greenland. Any time he tried to change topic or even mention the fact that he was dating her son, she’d get angry and mute him. The call went nowhere important, to say the least.

It was always tiresome as hell to hang out with fae, if he was being honest. There were so many arbitrary, specific rules and customs to remember to avoid wronging anyone. For instance, he had to remember not to give his name out, yet still be polite enough to somehow let them _know_ it. Even though the fae couldn’t technically lie, they always found some manner of bending the truth that, naturally, screwed him over. He wasn’t good with regular words, let alone mind games that required he focus for more than thirty seconds at a time. There was also the part about not accepting gifts and yet also not outright rejecting them, as to not offend a host. Given his attention span, he almost always messed at least one of these customs up, usually more than one. It sucked. So much so, that after his very first run in with a group of fae back in the 60s, he just called it good and avoided seeking any out, preferring to stick with other vampires or even humans. At least that way he knew what to expect.

Even Sam, who by all standards he’d now call a pleasurable acquaintance at minimum, had tried to kill him twice before: once back when he’d first met Chase and another time for accidentally stepping on her cat’s tail without immediately apologizing. So, yeah. Due to the bad past experiences, Aleks had thus far managed to argue meeting the family was not the best idea. That is until today.

Apparently, Chase’s family was having their “centennial family reunion,” and him not attending would be “the greatest slap in the face from a long-term partner in our family since the great lizard vs mole war of 1875.” Whatever that meant. So he’d be forced to attend and meet everyone this time. Lucky him.

But before he could brood much more on the topic, a tiny blue smart car pulled up on the cobblestone path beside them and rudely grabbed his attention.

“I’m here to pick up two sluts,” the woman with blue hair laced with flowers, Sam, sang out as she cracked down the side window.

Aleks blinked from over in his shaded spot, hoping he was hallucinating right now.

“Are you joking?” he asked her, “That thing only has two seats. What happened to your other car?”

“Crashed it while teaching Ash how to drive,” she shrugged.

He’d yet to meet him, but knowing Sam’s predisposition for vengeance, Ash was likely only still alive after that incident due to being her brother. Not that the familial relationship had saved him in any way whatsoever, more that the fae status would have made it more difficult to kill him either in a car crash or any other manner. He should consider himself lucky.

“Dude,” he continued, “If you _know_ you drive people around a lot, why would you pick the worst possible vehicle for that?”

“It gets good fuel mileage, saves the environment,” she said and pulled a pair of sunglasses from out of the glove compartment to toss on.

Aleks didn’t relent and stared her down, maintaining piercing eye contact through the lenses.

“Fine,” she relented, “That was only part of it. The other reasons were because it was cute, and, more importantly, I thought it’d be funny to make you, specifically, ride in the trunk. Now get in, Aleks Reyes. I’m losing my patience.”

He stood but made sure to take his sweet time to help pull Chase up to his feet as well. Not because Sam had used his full name and commanded him to, he had the luxury of ignoring her in those matters now, but because he knew that neither of the two fae would have any qualms against leaving him to sit out here, stranded, for the entire weekend. Sam would do it out of spite for refusing her ‘gift’ of driving him. Chase would do it because it would give him a right good chuckle. Faced with the alternative of sitting under some trees in this random forest on the outskirts of town until an Uber found him, he figured he’d hop in the smart car’s trunk. Although he refused to be happy about it and instead decided to use his last few moments of freedom to stretch while he could.

“I just better not die from this,” he complained.

“Ugh, you’re so dramatic,” she said as she broke their stare down to start adjusting her lipstick in the mirror, “I don’t think vampires can die from car crashes anyway.”

“I was referring more to the fact that it’s 2pm, and it’s somewhat hard for me to lay down to avoid the sun in a smart car.”

“Relax, the windows are tinted,” she said and popped the trunk open for him.

Apparently, Chase considered that sufficient enough protection, and took it as his cue to pick up the wolf head and make his way over. Aleks stood firm, finished stretching but still hesitant about the situation.

“Absolutely not,” Sam stopped the hunter as soon as she noticed the head he was carrying, locking the car's doors and rolling the window up as well for good measure. “That thing is not fitting in here, and even if it did, you’re not bringing it. You’re already lucky enough I’m letting you in here, looking like you do right now.”

He opened his dirt covered mouth to argue, but Aleks interrupted him. For once, she had a valid point.

“Look,” he said, “I’ll just snap a pic of it, and you can use that as proof.”

“What if they don’t believe that?” Chase whined, “I heard you can manipulate pictures on the web now.”

Aleks didn’t bother to correct that, technically true, statement. There was just too much to say to know where to start at.

“Dude, they can just come here in person if they want more evidence,” he said and snapped several quick photos in case the first few didn’t satisfy the hunters requirements. “Let’s just go before Sam decides to leave you out here too.”

With great difficulty, Aleks went over and maneuvered his way to sit down in the trunk behind the passenger’s seat. He even managed to shut the hood without either exposing himself to the sun or breaking his umbrella. It was an impressive feat if he’s being honest with himself, but no one noticed as they were too busy bickering with each other.

“Did you really put newspaper down all over the passenger’s seat? I’m not a dog, you know,” Chase barked.

“Yes, well, you smell like one," Sam responded with indifference, "Shake yourself off before you touch my car, you dirty heathen.”

Chase groaned but proceeded to try to shake as much of the matted dirt and blood off him that he could.

“Aleks Reyes,” Sam chimed as she turned around in the driver’s seat to face toward him. “You got a bit of blood on your face too. Right…here.”

She licked her thumb and proceeded to brush off a droplet that had landed on his right cheek, right near his mouth. He blushed at the contact, or at least he would have if he were, you know, alive and capable.

“Could you not blatantly flirt with my boyfriend right in front of me?" Chase said from outside the car as he knocked the window for her to unlock it. He _had_ finished shaking off but was just barely cleaner than he’d been a minute ago.

“Yes, I could,” she hummed and continued to caress his face and jaw with her thumb.

“Ugh, okay then. _WILL_ you stop?” he clarified.

“Oh. No, I will not,” she said, but did unlock the car door for him with her other hand while continuing her game. “He’s very fun to tease, and since you ever so rudely took away my ability to name control him, this is my only option left.”

Chase slapped her hand away once he got inside the car.

“You were trying to make him kill me,” he pointed out.

“Trivial details,” she replied.

“Just, shut up and drive.”

She giggled, but did turn back around and start the car in motion, once done winking at the vampire. Aleks wiped at his face where she’d touched him. Stupid fae being all pretty and distracting and making him zone out more than usual. Which was saying something, as Aleks was already more often tuned out to anything and everything around him than not, especially when he wasn’t focused on Chase. Like right now.

“…and if you look in the front pouch of the bag, I wrote a bunch of stuff in that notebook about just general rules,” he caught the tail end of what Chase had been telling him.

Oh, right. He needed to prep for this nightmare. He had no idea how long he’d been out for, but he didn’t ask and quickly followed the instructions to dig out said notes that had been meticulously written in Chase’s blood stained, years old notebook. Aleks smiled to himself. Chase was more sentimental than he’d ever admit. 

He looked at the list. It was standard stuff he’d vaguely already known before, mixed with specifics Chase had been going over with him the past week. Be cordial, don’t give out your full name, don’t accept gifts without having something to give in return.

“Don’t say ‘thanks?’ That’s a new one,” he noted

“Oh yeah. The older, more traditional fae are super offended at that,” Chase answered him. Sam nodded in agreement from the driver’s seat.

“It’s like insulting them by implying they now owe you something. We hate owing shit. So, yeah, avoid that,” she added.

He nodded absent mindedly. He wondered if he could use the sun being out as an excuse to just hang back the entire time and not talk to anyone. It was possible, but that excuse would only carry him until dusk. To add to his apprehension, not only was he to spend the entire day with a group of fae, but they’d also decided to host the gathering at the family’s waterfront house an hour or so outside the city. Calming waves, miles of sand, and plenty of sunshine to soak up. He couldn’t think of a worse form of torture. Sure, he had his umbrella, but that wasn’t foolproof, and the concept of frying to death out in the sun was not on his list of preferred ways to put an end to his eternal life. That list started with a space journey and ended with falling asleep in a bathtub and never waking up, thank you very much. Wait, maybe he could get away with just hiding in a downstairs bathroom the whole time. Would the fae folk know enough to say he couldn’t _actually_ be sick in there the entire time?

“We’re about there. You better get out of my car the very second we stop, before you manage to make the stink permanent,” Sam curtly told Chase.

They passed by rows of cars parked along the street, but Sam drove past them all and instead pulled into a garage attached to a large beach house.

“I let everyone know I was bringing fangs here along, so that’s why they left the garage open for us,” she explained before turning back to Aleks and adding, “Which means you need to make an actual appearance, and you _cannot_ hide in the bathroom, or I’m going to get chewed out for it.”

_Dang it._

“Oh, I almost forgot to ask,” Chase said, “Do you have any extra clothes around here? I’d prefer to, you know, not wear these again after I take a shower.”

“Clothing? Not that I’d loan you,” she said and got out of the car, popping the trunk open on her way past it. “There are, however, several extra swimsuits in the downstairs closet and probably an old T-Shirt or something.”

Aleks climbed out of the cramped smart car and went to go set his things against the far wall, next to a long, long line of shoes.

“Ugh, I don’t want to wear swim trunks,” Chase griped, “Then people will expect me to get in the water.”

“We’re at a beach,” she pointed out, “They’re going to expect you to anyway.”

Chase moaned and mumbled something under his breath about how disgusting saltwater was.

“Right now, you’re disgusting,” she berated him, “You know, one of these days you’re going to get a contract that asks you to kill a sea monster or something. What are you going to do then?”

“Refuse? It’s not like I’m desperate for gigs in the first place," he said then changed tone and begged, "Please, dearest cousin of mine, just loan me one of your things? Anything.”

“No,” she held firm, “Use the extra swim trunks or perish smelling like the downtrodden dog you are,” she then proceeded to shut the trunk with a loud _thud_ and locked the car _. “_ Come, Aleks Reyes, I’ll show you inside.”

“I’d rather just follow Chase,” he told her as he took off his shoes too, to set them next to the others.

“Well that’s just too bad, because he already went down to the basement,” she said without a trace of sympathy to be found.

He looked around the garage and noticed she was right. _Damn him_. Seeing no better option, he relented and let her drag him by the arm into the house.

The first thing he noted was the aroma that smacked him right upside the face the very second they walked through the door and into the foyer. To start, there was the natural scent pouring out from the copious amounts of plants hung about. Spider plants drooped down from the ceiling, flower pots were on every end table, and an immeasurable amount of ivy vines wove themselves along the walls. The decor itself wasn’t the worst thing he’d ever encountered, although he did feel as though he’d unwittingly stepped into a forest yet to be explored by man.

No, the worst part was the overwhelming assault on his senses, likely both intentional and unintentional, the house’s fifty-some occupants themselves were radiating off. He knew about the ‘pull’ fae could have, Chase and Sam always exhibited it to some extent, but this was more than he could have imagined, let alone prepared for. It was as if they all had a light switch turned on for a neon sign that said, ‘notice me aren’t I gorgeous?’ Individually or even in a small group, it would have been tolerable. Heck, even this large crowd's presence would likely be more subtle or even unnoticeable to humans, but to a vampire who already had heightened senses as it was, it was like having a full can of rose scented Febreze sprayed directly up his nostrils. He scrunched his face. Pretentious bunch, fae were.

The next thing that caught his attention, once he’d managed to get over the initial shock that was the gloating of fae, was that they’d at least been thoughtful enough to shut the curtains to all the rooms' windows for him. Although, in the end, that only served to add to the dark forest vibe that the copious amounts of ivy gave off. Typical. The last, and maybe most annoying in Alek's opinion, thing to warrant any scrutiny was the annoying music playing seemingly from several overhead loudspeakers that was a weird mixture of instrumental folk music and acoustic guitar covers.

 _Fucking hipsters_.

Arms linked, Sam guided him over toward a buffet table lined with punch, champagne, and several other more questionable looking choices of drinks. He could _feel_ her basking in the attention that clinging onto the vampire guest was giving her. She made an overly dramatic gesture of picking up one of the pre-poured glasses and tasting it.

“Oh, wow, Aleks this is so great! You should try it!” she said loud enough for everyone to hear.

“You're well aware I can’t,” he grumbled back. He wasn’t sure what her game was here.

“Oh, that’s right you can’t,” she unnecessarily repeated his comment at four times the volume and winked at him.

He realized they’d now caught the attention of practically every single fae in the room. Even those too proud to outright gawk were side eyeing him. Great. This was literally the exact opposite of what he’d wanted.

“Okay, anywho have fun. I’m going to go hang out with the bae now, bye!” Sam chimed, blew him a kiss, and darted off snickering to herself before he could get a word in.

As he watched her frolic off into the crowd, he kind of wished he were dead, dead right now. Maybe he could chug the punch, puke it up, and feign sickness? Wait no, that was stupid. They’d all see and know he’d done it one purpose.

“Oh gracious! What bad hosts we are,” an older woman said from off to his left. She looked around 60 years old or so, but from what little he knew about fae standards that meant she was likely at least a millennium or more. She marched out of the crowd smiling and took the first initiative to come talk to him. No one dared stop her, himself included. “We knew our little Chasey was bringing his vampire buddy, yet here we didn’t even provide an option for you.”

She nodded toward the buffet table full of almost any desired drink imaginable, save for the only thing he could have. Which was understandable, blood wasn’t considered either desirable or edible by most being’s standards.

“It’s uh, fine. Ma’am,” shoot, why did he not know who this was? He should have studied Chase’s family tree before coming, “I’m not really that hungry.”

“Oh pish posh. Here,” she brushed him off and took one of the glasses off the table. She tossed the contents straight out onto the floor, yet there was no stain or spill that he could spot. “Now, I know we have knives around here somewhere…”

“Oh wow, um, you don’t need to do that, but thank you?” he blurted out. He did _not_ want to make some old lady slit her wrist for him, but it turned out he didn’t have to.

The glass clattered to the ground before he’d finished speaking. Those brave enough to be openly staring at the scene could now be heard openly gasping at what had just transgressed.

“Why I never!” the woman scowled and turned to leave in a huff, leaving the broken glass at his feet.

“It’s okay, gram, this clown pry didn’t mean it,” he heard some Jerseyan fae assure her as she walked away.

_Shit. Right, don’t thank anyone. Nice one, Aleks._

Three minutes in, and he’d already messed up. He stared down at the broken glass and wondered if he was expected to clean it up. No one in the crowd gave any guidance, as they had now stopped watching him and had instead turned away in disgust, sneering. He was alone and decided to let the glass be. He again debated whether it’d be worth a shot to down some of the drinks. Maybe if he injected it, he could get drunk that way? He’d never tried that. Wait, but he didn’t have a syringe. Also, even if he did, that'd make a somehow worse impression, pulling one out to do that in front of everyone. His mind raced. How long could it possibly take Chase to shower and change clothes? Did he need to breathe? It felt like he did, but he couldn’t. Did the room just go silent? Had he always been claustrophobic?

“Word of freely given advice, darling,” a voice crooned from beside him. He jumped when something, or rather someone touched his shoulder. “Don’t thank us. Especially not in our own dwelling, and especially not dear grandmother”

Aleks floated back into consciousness enough to make out the masculine figure that was speaking, yet not enough to resist being pulled away to the side of the room by him.

“Don’t worry,” he assured him, “There’s simply fewer prying eyes over this way.”

Once in the corner of the room, the sound of the hipster guitar music started to fade back into his perception, and Aleks again found he had a grasp of himself. Mostly.

“Than—” he started, out of habit.

“Ah, ah,” his companion warned.

“Right, sorry,” he offered instead.

His companion chuckled at him before proceeding to give him clear, full a once over.

“You’re cute, but obviously not used to hanging with fae much, are you?” he poked.

There was something familiar about him, but Aleks couldn’t place it. The fae was about the same height as himself, but that wasn’t extraordinary; lots of people were. He was also radiating out the exact same overwhelming presence and aroma as everyone else in the room, but that wasn’t it either. Aleks scrutinized the fae’s shoulder length, satin blue hair still trying to place it, when he remembered he was expected to remain polite and actually answer questions directed at him.

“Not this many at once,” it was the truth.

“Ah, so you _are_ Chase’s pet,” This seemed to delight him more than was conventional. “Aleks, no?”

It finally clicked with him who he was speaking to.

“I see Sam hasn’t hesitated in giving out my information. That's fantastic,” he said. Maybe he’d have to try to kill her for a change. “Her brother Ash, I presume?”

He cackled at that.

“So over-guarded with your possessions, when you seem to already have mine!” he said after his laughing fit had ended, “I’m just having a bit of fun, dear. Relax. I don't know the full thing, and even if I did, it wasn't given by you freely. Your ‘Chasey’ thought it prudent to tell everyone in the family before you came over,” he held up a finger when he saw Aleks attempt to cut in at that, “Smart, if you think about it. Prevents us from asking for it and thus also yourself from accidently handing it away.”

“I see,” he still wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He wished Chase had warned him.

“I see,” he mocked back in a grunted voice.

Aleks said nothing. Mocking a fae back was probably not the wisest choice right now.

“Oh, you’re fun. This is fun. I can see why Sam bothers to hang out with you.”

Aleks was most certainly not having fun.

“And here I thought she only hung out because we were best friends,” he chose to mock back anyway, consequences be damned.

The fae clapped his hand together and squealed.

“There you go again! Sarcasm is so rare around these parts. With everyone telling the truth and such all the time,” he sighed wistfully, “Such a joy indeed.”

Aleks still didn’t know what to respond to that, so he didn’t. He hadn’t really known what to expect from most of Chase’s family. He’d barely known anything about Ash other than the fact that he existed from Sam mentioning it in passing. He wished Chase would come back upstairs.

“Would you care to dance?” Ash asked him in the midst of his pining.

“What?” he asked, not quite finished pining yet, to be honest.

The fae shrugged.

“Dancing. It’d be fun, and I’m getting rather bored.”

This whole conversation had totaled around three minutes now, tops. Maybe he’d finally found someone with a shorter attention span than himself. Some siren in the back of his mind was blaring right now, but Aleks took no heed of it. Ash was cute enough, and it’s not like he had anything better to do, or anywhere to hide. He’d been told the other day it may be considered rude to just browse cat snaps on his phone the whole time he was here. Although, feeling the weight of the device in his pocket was tempting right now.

“Sure, why not.”

Ash applauded at that and pulled Aleks out away from their corner by a few feet. The music had changed from crappy acoustic guitar covers to crappy lute songs, but at least the one playing now had a slightly faster pace to it. In an instant, he noted he was not going to get to lead in this dance of theirs. Ash had him spinning and twirling to the beat, almost against his own volition. He chuckled as he whirled the vampire around. Aleks quickly grew sick of spinning. Combined with the stupid fae presence they all felt the necessity to give off, he was on the verge of hurling. And yet, the more he willed himself to stop, the tighter his hands clasped to the fae’s.

“Oh, isn’t this just a ball?” the fae called.

“Chase, he’s over here,” Aleks vaguely heard Sam call from a distance, but had no willpower to look over at her.

“Ash, stop fucking around,” Sam demanded as both her and Chase found their way over to the ceaselessly dancing pair.

“You’ll need to elaborate, dearest sister. I’m just dancing with my new vampire friend here.”

“If you don’t let _my_ boyfriend go in the next ten seconds, I’m going to cut your throat out,” Chase snapped at him.

“Wow, jealous much?” he hummed but continued his dance, meaning Aleks was forced to as well. “I’m just having a ball with this one. I understand your fascination, dear cousin.”

“Alright, three seconds is enough,” Chase stated and whipped out a knife.

Sam stepped between the two to stop him from carrying the fight further.

“Ugh, fine,” Chase relented and lowered the knife, by about two inches, “What do you want for him?”

Still dancing, Ash feigned pondering for a moment and grinned.

“I want some of your hair. Both of you.”

“What?” Sam huffed.

“Deal,” Chase said.

Using the knife he already had out, Chase hacked off about three inches of his previously shoulder length locks. Not bothering to either use a mirror or pay attention to sections, the new lopsided cut was unprofessional, to say the least, but he didn’t care. He chucked it at his cousin who caught it with a smile. Chase then turned to Sam and thrust the knife in her hand with an expected look.

“Ugh. Fine,” she acquiesced, “But I’m not going above the neckline for mine.”

With much more precision than the hunter had used, she carefully cut about six inches off hers. She handed it over to her brother, who pocketed it and then heedlessly shoved the vampire in their direction. Chase caught him and wrapped his arms around him, as if to shield him from further influence, albeit it didn’t matter. True to his word, the vampire was no longer under any command nor trance from the fae.

“Pleasure doing business with the two of you,” Ash said in sincerity, “Please bring fangs around more, will you? I very much like him.”

He didn’t wait for a response before briefly saluting the two goodbye and prancing off into the kitchen.

“Why,” Aleks muttered into the hunter’s shoulder while clinging onto him for dear life. The overwhelming aroma had vanished for the first time since he’d first stepped foot in the room. He didn’t care whether it were placebo or Chase's doing, subconsciously or not. All that mattered was that he kept holding him. He needed any semblance of grounding right now.

“Why what, dear?” Chase said and gently lifted him off.

“Why the hell does your cousin want your hair?” he demanded, “What is he even going to do with that?”

“Nothing,” Sam answered for him, “He’s just thinks we may be considered prettier than him, so he wanted to try to knock us down a peg.”

Aleks was going to lose it, and he hadn’t even been here a full hour yet. He could not keep up with fae.

“She’s joking right?” he hoped.

“No, that sounds right,” Chase told him, “To be honest, you probably weren’t even his target, just a good means to an end. He’s been aiming to do get me to cut it for a while.”

Aleks let out a sob and fell back into Chase’s chest. His head hurt. He was sick of fae. He was sick of their tricks. He was sick of their pettiness. He was sick of that damn smell that came back every time he was out of Chase’s arms. He just wanted to go home and look at cat pics.

“Chase, babe, I want to leave,” he moaned.

“But we just got here,” he protested and pulled the vampire off his chest once more in order to look him face to face. “And, also, you haven’t even gotten to meet…”

“Do I _want_ to meet anyone else?” Aleks stopped him. He was tired. So very tired.

“Well they’re my family and I…”

“Fae are crazy, dude,” Aleks was struggling to convey his thoughts right now, but imagined that summed them up well.

“ _I’m_ fae, Aleks Reyes,” Chase said and stopped touching him completely now.

Aleks immediately missed his presence. He could not think right now, let alone explain what he’d meant by that, but he knew he had to try. He needed his shield back.

“It’s different with you. You’re only half so…”

“So what, _dearest_? It’s just as much a part of me as everyone else here. Well, everyone except you,” he scoffed, “Go home if you want. I’ll even pay for the Uber, but _I’m_ going to go hang out on the beach. I'd say don't bother following, but it's not like you could.”

With that, he got up and marched out the back-patio door, not even giving Sam the chance to point out how he hated beaches. Rays of sun momentarily filled the far side of the room, then vanished once the door was slammed shut behind him. The crowd of fae were doing their best to pretend they hadn’t caught wind of any of that conversation. Their best was horrible though, as Aleks could feel the stares piercing through him just as much as he couldn’t escape their ostentatious aroma. He ran his fingers through his hair trying to will himself to have a coherent thought, but none would come to him.

“I see we _can_ be quite temperamental, ” Sam told him after a moment’s pause. To be frank, he’d forgotten she was still here. She patted his shoulder and offered him a smile. “Chase included, as I’m sure you’re aware by now. Maybe give him a half hour or so?”

She paused and waited to see if he had anything to offer back. He did not, so she went on.

“I know it doesn’t seem it, but we’re all really trying here, Aleks Reyes. Please give us a chance. We don’t have…experience with this sort of thing, but we really are trying. Yes, even Ash. Believe it or not that was the friendliest I’ve ever seen him with someone outside our family. The fucking presence alone he’s blasting off right now has to be using more effort than I’ve ever known him to bother with in his life. Lazy dick...”

“Turn it off,” Aleks managed to say.

“What?”

“The aroma. The neon signs. Whatever it's called. Make the stupid presence stop.”

"Neon..?" she said under her breath.

Her eyes widened ever so slightly once she realized what he was referring to. Soon after, he felt like he could focus, even just a speck more. It was if she'd just teleported away to the other side of the house, finally giving him personal space, although he could see she hadn't truly moved an inch.

“Hey everyone,” Sam called out, drawing attention to their corner. _Oh no._ “Stop being attention-whores, the vampire can’t breathe.”

In an instant, as soon as she’d finished speaking, he could focus again. None of the fae had left, most hadn't even moved, but it was as if he were now in a pleasant flower shop, rather than being assailed in the Target perfume department. He wanted to thank Sam, but he was now able to remember how that was a bad idea. He looked up and watched her brush a stray hair off her shirt. Oh, right. She’d cut that because of him.

“So, what do you want for having to cut your hair to save me?” he hoped she would take the question as an offer of thanks, at least as close as he could come without saying the word aloud.

She raised her brows at that for an moment before she understood the implications and shook her head once. Instead, she offered him her hand.

“A gift given freely out of friendship requires no repayment. We are, in fact, friends, you know that right, Aleks Reyes?”

He accepted her hand, and she pulled him up.

“Besides, it may or may not have indirectly been my fault you landed in that situation in the first place and I feel…regret about it.”

“Was that your attempt at an apology?” he asked.

“Don’t push me, Aleks Reyes," she warned, "Now, come. Do you want to bite my neck and suck my blood out in the vacant upstairs bedroom?”

He dropped her hand.

“Um, no not really, to be honest.”

She laughed.

“You truly do get riled up easily, you know.”

~

“And so Avery here said, ‘I’ll show you a helpless baby' and punched him,” Sam cackled, “He died from that. To this day, one of the hottest things I’ve ever seen her do. Oh, how I miss the roaring 20s sometimes.”

“Love, you were like wasted and zoned out that entire decade,” her girlfriend, Avery, pointed out.

“Yeah, well. I can still miss it,” Sam scoffed at her and downed the drink in her hand, which Aleks was pretty sure was literally just a homemade iced mocha. She literally had a bit of whipped cream stuck to her upper lip. She didn't notice or bother to wipe it off though, as she started choking on said mocha soon after chugging it, due to her incessant inability to stop giggling while she drank.

Aleks laughed with her though, grinning enough for his fangs to poke out on full display. The coffee table they sat around shook from a kick he’d accidentally given it out of excitement.

“Can’t relate much to missing it; but I was out of it during that time too! I was all feral that whole decade ‘cause I’d just been turned and shit.”

“Aw, you were a baby vamp? How cute!” Sam said once she’d managed to stop choking on her drink.

“I mean, it’s not that cute,” he countered, “There’s the total lack of self-control rampages and all that.”

“I want a baby,” Sam lamented.

Avery tapped her foot in annoyance, shaking the table once again.

“We are not having this conversation a second time,” Avery warned her, “You know how I feel about changelings.”

“I don’t know, they can be fun in certain situations,” Ash chimed in from the chair next to her.

“Ugh,” Avery responded and turned from the conversation to peek out the closed curtain instead, taking care to avoid the sun hitting where Aleks was seated.

“Well I…” Sam started.

“Hey, is that Chase chilling out there on a boogie board?” Avery asked the group.

“I thought he hated the ocean,” Ash questioned, feigning disinterest.

“He does. Let me see,” Sam said and pushed her aside for a better view. “He looks stuck.”

Before long, all three of the fae were gawking out the window. Aleks wished he could look out too. Why couldn’t the fae have held their party at night?

“So?” he asked the group when it seemed no one was going to explain the situation to him.

Sam started chewing her lip.

“So, what?” her girlfriend asked him, transfixed and not looking away.

Annoyed, Aleks went over to the other side of the window and pulled back the curtain as much as he dared in broad daylight to catch the scene for himself. It stung a bit, but was nothing he couldn't tolerate. Sure enough, out beyond the shoreline he could make out the silhouette of the hunter maybe about 100 feet into the ocean, clinging onto a kickboard. 

_Shit._ He was not just ‘chilling.’ Aleks had been around long enough and had enough personal experience to know what a dissociative panic attack looked like. Not always a dire cause for concern, unless you were a certain stubborn hunter who refused to ever go near sea water and thus had no clue how to swim well in normal situations, let alone handle floating out in the ocean while completely unaware of your surroundings. He closed the curtain and turned back to the group of fae, trying to remind himself of the fact that he didn’t need to breathe, so there was no need for him to be so short of air right now.

“Are any of you going to go pull him out? He's going to drown himself freaking out if we just leave him be,” he said.

“What makes you think I’m a decent swimmer?” Sam said, “I never claimed to be.”

“Your family owns a beach house, and you spent the drive here teasing Chase about it,” he just barely managed to avoid yelling, “Are you joking right now? You’re also a fae!”

Sam pursed her lips.

“I am not a siren, and I don’t lie in jest.”

“Yeah, that’s a second for bad swimmer here,” Avery chimed in.

He was starting to wonder if the family just owned a beach estate because they could for clout and the aesthetic.

“I can swim just fine,” Ash offered, “But what would be in it for me if I saved him? I'd have to walk _all_ the way outside for nothing. He’s not in much of a state to agree to any deals right now…”

He didn’t have time for this. He didn’t bother to ask anyone else around the house any further questions and instead made up his mind. Snatching on a discarded hoodie, while ignoring its owner’s protests, he charged through the back door and directly onto the sun-drenched beach outside. Hands in the hoodie’s pockets for now, he didn’t feel the direct burn of the sun, but he could sense it trying to claw at him underneath the long sleeves. It was only a matter of time before he’d reach the water and be forced to expose at least part of himself in order to swim out. He tried not to think about how long that would take nor how much it would burn when it happened.

Once knee deep in the ocean, he heard his boyfriend’s distant babbling to himself in the distance, it was the same nonsensical tone he used when thunderstorms passed directly above their apartment. That sound alone pained him worse than what he was about to do ever could, and it was for that exact reason that he pushed forward. Now or never, he took in the breath of air he didn’t need and dove headfirst underwater. For the initial second or so, he felt nothing, shielded by the water and waves above him. After that, it started to set in. Hitting first at his hands, he felt the sun scorch its mark onto his exposed skin. He mentally swore at that, but otherwise pushed on. Once he’d swam about halfway, the hood he’d had up fell down as well, and he had to dive back under to minimize the sun’s contact with his face.

Yet, as he pushed on to reach where Chase was frozen in place, he knew he’d have to surface soon. Chase, beautiful, wonderful Chase, like all fae and like all humans, still needed to breathe, and he was probably in no state to hold that breath all the way to shore if Aleks just pulled him under and swam back with him that way.

He emerged next to him and gently took the kick board in his hand, trying not to startle the hunter.

"Babe, I'm gonna pull you back to shore, okay?" he said over the sound of the waves.

“Aleks? I’m so sorry! I should talk out my feelings more. Wait. It’s midday, you can’t be out here. Oh my god, am I dead? Is this purgatory?” He rambled.

Aleks, forgetting to even pull his hood back up, tried to ignore the smoke smell that was undoubtedly coming from himself, and didn’t answer any of the rambled questions as he swam back to shore with the hunter in tow. Chase recognizing who was pulling him was good enough consent for him. As soon as they were back to ankle deep waters, Aleks fell face first to the ocean floor, and hoped the water on his face might soothe some of the burns. It did not.

“They’re over here!” he heard someone call out but didn’t bother looking up to see who it was.

He heard them rush into the water next to him and felt two sets of hands pulling him and plopping him face up onto the shore.

“A..Aleks?” Chase asked next to him and shook him gently as the hunter became more aware of his surroundings.

Aleks found the strength to open his eyes, and noted the smoking had stopped, although the burns on his face and hands were still there, throbbing. From personal experience, he knew they would be for at least the next couple months. _Fantastic._ Above him, he saw Sam and her girlfriend each holding a giant beach umbrella over him.

“It took us a minute to find these after you ran out,” Sam explained, but then since that explanation sounded far too close to an apology added, “Idiot.”

Sitting up, he threw his arms around his legs and sat curled up like that next to Chase, not wanting to expend any energy to move himself even a millimeter away from the hunter.

“Are you alright?” he asked Chase.

Chase bumped his leg against his.

“I ...I think I will be, give me a minute or so," he said, "Maybe running outside specifically out of spite because you couldn’t be out there wasn’t my best decision ever.”

The two sat, waiting for the other to say more first. Sam gave a fake cough, pretending she wasn’t basking in every detail of this drama. Aleks picked up some sand and threw it in the direction of her face but didn’t bother to watch if he hit his target. The short huff she gave off was confirmation enough. He felt something hard poking at his thigh and remembered he'd had his phone in his pocket the whole time, because of course he did. He took it out and noted it was, predictably, deader than he was.

"I'm sorry. I can get you a new one," Chase told him upon spotting the now useless brick of a phone.

"Eh," Aleks grunted. He had bigger things to worry about than his lack of ability to browse for cat pics right now.

"Sorry," Chase repeated to fill the silence.

“I had a nice conversation with your cousins and stuff inside…” he offered, remembering he needed to keep the conversation going to keep Chase grounded right now.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, we made it through the entire conversation, and no one tried to kill each other. I even managed not to thank anyone.”

Chase gave him a half-hearted laugh at that.

“I…” Aleks started.

“I appreciate you trying,” Chase stopped him, “Look, I know this whole experience hasn’t been your dream vacation, and I probably shouldn’t have left you alone for so long either. It’s just…I was really excited to finally share this part of me with you; we’ve been pushing it off so long, you know? I love my family and I love you, so I guess I just assumed everyone would fit together perfectly. Then when it didn’t… I’m sorry for…all that.”

Aleks bumped his leg back against the other man's.

“I’m still not completely used to all the…fae stuff,” Aleks admitted, “It’s going to take me more time, but, well, it’s not like we’re lacking any of that.”

Chase opened his mouth to reply but shut it once he looked up past Aleks’ shoulder.

“It seems we’ve gathered an audience,” he pointed out, “Besides Sam and Avery, I mean.”

Aleks looked to where he was indicating and saw the rest of the fae had made their way out onto the beach, well most of them. He was sure there were still some inside partying the day away without a care in the world. He was learning it’s just like that sometimes with fae. Leading the way was the older woman he’d upset by accidentally thanking earlier. He prayed to several gods he didn’t believe in that she’d somehow be too focused on Chase to note or talk to him. Logically, he knew though those prayers were likely to be in vain.

“Aw, Chasey, are you hurt?” she said and came over to hunch under the umbrellas and pinch at his cheeks, earning a groan from the hunter.

“I’m fine, gram, Aleks pulled me out before any harm came.”

_Damn you Chase. Why did you have to remind her I was here too?_

“That’s good,” she said and then her mood flipped 180° as she flicked Chase hard on the forehead. “I’m signing you up for swimming lessons starting next week young man. Almost 70 dang years old, and you can’t swim. Zoning out in the middle of the dang ocean. Shame on you! It’s your mother’s fault you know! I told her botany classes were a waste of time, but no she had to make you take those instead of spending summers here!”

Chase muttered a series of ‘yes ma’ams’ and grunts of agreement, and Aleks had to resist grinning at the blush he saw creeping onto the hunter's face.

“And you!” she turned to Aleks, and he braced for his inevitable demise.

He was far too worn out to think right now, let alone be polite. Maybe if he said nothing, it’d be impossible to mess up. Yes, that’s the strategy he’d pick.

“I suppose you’ll want something in exchange for saving my grandson?”

Ugh, now he _had_ to respond, but what was he supposed to say to that? A yes was obviously a lie. A no might be taken as an admission he saw little value in his partner, which was also a lie.

“Uhhhhh?” he got out, “I just like Chase?”

“Wait. Gram, it’s fine, he was just…”

“Shh, we’re negotiating, dear,” she said and got up far closer to Aleks than he’d prefer. He kind of just wanted to take a nap to be honest, but he knew that would definitely be considered a sign of rudeness to get up and go do right now, and also he didn’t know if Sam would follow him with the umbrella at the moment. Taking his face between her hands, she was careful enough to avoid any of the wounds, but careless enough to not note how much he’d literally rather be doing anything else right now. After burning a deep stare into his very soul, she nodded once and stood up.

“Very well. Not the smartest suitor you’ve ever had Chasey, but he is pure of both heart and intentions. Vampire, your proposal is accepted. In exchange for saving him, you shall have my grandson’s hand in marriage within the next month.”

Um, that was not what he’d asking for at all, but it didn’t seem like his intentions with his words ever mattered. There were murmurs amongst the crowd of gathered fae, yet none seemed to show any signs of disagreement. Sam stifled a laugh behind her arm, disguising it as a cough. Chase sighed in acceptance beside him,

“You have such a way with words, darling,” he said, conceding to his fate.

“What are you all standing here for? Did you not hear the agreement? We have less than a month to plan this now!” Chase’s grandmother lectured at the crowd and shoved several of them toward the house.

The rest immediately heeded her call and began rushing in all directions to ‘plan’ whatever. Although Aleks thought some of them just wanted an excuse to frolic around, seeing as only about half the group actually went inside rather than just running down the shore at full speed. The lone exception he could spot was Ash, who’d instead taken advantage of the chaos around him to steal a now unoccupied beach chair and lounge about in it, not even attempting to appear busy. He waved over at their group, and Sam flicked him off in response. Whatever, they could all bask in the sun or sprint for miles as long as they left him be. He had plans to use the next few moments to gather himself and figure out what the hell had just happened. He was engaged now?

“I’d imagine you want to go inside now, Aleks Reyes?” Sam asked him once everyone save for her and Avery had left the two be, both still shading him from the sun with their two giant umbrellas.

“I mean, as long as no one follows me, and I can be alone with Chase, that would be ideal.”

“I…don’t think that will be an issue,” she nodded toward the hectic scene over by the house with dozens of fae attempting to make themselves appear busy and failing miserably. “Come, if you two feel fine to stand right now, you can hide in my car. I doubt anyone's made it over to the garage yet.”

His fangs poked into his tongue as he bit it to prevent himself from thanking her for the offer. He stood himself up with a grunt and took off the soaked hoodie he’d ‘borrowed’ from someone inside earlier. Avery grabbed it from him without being asked and let him know she’d return it to its owner, free of charge, of course, before saying goodbye and leaving with both the hoodie and the second umbrella. Still sheltered sufficiently by Sam, the remaining three began walking back toward the garage, Aleks limping quite a bit more than the other two.

“You know,” Aleks broke the silence once they’d gotten inside the garage. “If the offer still stands Sam, I wouldn’t mind ravishing you for your blood in an isolated bedroom at the moment.”

Her face lit up, burning _almost_ , as bad as his was right now, and she was even forced to take a second to retaliate with her own remark.

“Ehem, well, I hardly doubt there’s any free rooms left right now, my dear future cousin-in-law,” she struck back.

He’d temporarily forgotten that last part and was immediately thrown into a silent state of discomposure upon being forced to remember his accidental marriage proposal.

“Again, would you two knock off the mock flirting in front of me, for like, five seconds?” Chase asked, graciously saving him from needing to respond, and feigning annoyance. But Aleks could see he was holding back a grin; It wasn’t often either of them saw Sam flustered.

Once they were at the car, Sam handed over her keys but only after checking Chase over four separate times and insisting he come get her if anyone bothers them. He brushed her off and assured her he’d be fine. After a weak-willed, obligatory threat to kill them both if they drove and crashed her car, she kissed the two on the cheek, said goodbye, and headed into the house.

“Babe?” Aleks said as they got in the car, and he tossed out some of the leftover newspaper from when Chase had sat in the passenger’s seat and muddied it up.

“Hmm?” was the response.

“I think you owe me for attending this little reunion,” he teased.

“I’ve already agreed to marry you, what more could you want,” Chase teased back as he adjusted the driver's seat to lay back, as much as one could in a smart car.

“You have to come and meet my friends next, then you can be the fish out of wate—er sorry, bad phrasing right now.”

Chase hummed and turned over in the seat in order to face him.

“That doesn’t sound too terrible, actually. Hanging with a group of vamps. There’re very few vampire customs I’m not already familiar with. So as long as I don’t stab anyone, I see no harm.”

“Oh, not just anyone,” Aleks stressed, “Gary over in New Zealand’s been dying, figuratively of course, to meet you. You’d have to spend the entire time trying not to offend _him_ by gagging at how ugly his face is.”

Chase laughed wholeheartedly at that. Aleks watched as the half-fae brushed his now wet, lopsided blonde locks out of his face, and crinkled his eyes with his amusement. He was beautiful, and it was just now setting in that he may get this sight for the rest of his un-life.

“If that’s what you desire, dear fiancé, then fine. But that in particular may cost you extra.”

**Author's Note:**

> I actually bothered to research fae lore this time. Now, whether or not I felt like following it is another story. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


End file.
